The 2019 FIRST Robotics Competition game is Destination to Deep Space. The objective of the game is to place hatch panels onto the rockets and cargoship as well as load cargo to earn points.

There are two alliances during the game, each consisting of three robots. Alliances can earn points in numerous ways. Teams can earn points by attaching hatch panels onto the rockets or the shuttles and load it with cargo. In the end of the game, robots can earn additional points for HAB climbing. If an alliance earns 15 points or more points for climbing, the teams will earn 1 ranking point. In addition, an alliance can also earn a ranking point during qualifying matches if they complete at least one rocket with hatch panels and cargo.

In the beginning of the game, driver vision of the field will be blocked by a waning sandstorms for 15 seconds. During that time period, robots can operate using autonomous or monitor with a vision system on the robot. An alliance will score points in first 15 seconds for exiting the habitat, securing hatch panels and storing cargo properly.

During our preparation for the Great Northern Regional, local news channel KVRR toured our building, interviewed members of two of the teams, and recorded footage of the robots.

From KVRR:

FARGO, N.D. — High school students in the area are preparing to compete in a robotics competition held by an organization called First Robotics.

“It’s an experience you can’t get anywhere else. There’s not a lot of other programs that give you this much manufacturing or engineering experience,” said Brennan Coslett, a West Fargo High School senior.

Students from various high schools in Fargo, West Fargo, and Moorhead are building different robots designed to complete an obstacle. The goal is to get as many of blocks onto one side of a lever so it tilts in that team’s favor.

Students have been preparing for the competition for past six weeks.

“When you finally get to see it moving, it’s the best feeling. Because you’ve been working day in and day out. And you get to go in and seeing it all come together just one day where everything was moving, picking up and placing blocks where we wanted to, was just the best feeling,” said Kyle Schmidt, another West Fargo High School senior.

The students work with mentors, and the competition is part of a global initiative to inspire students to get into engineering.

“I like it when the switch flips in a student when they finally get what engineering is. That moment when they say, okay if this is engineering then I’m in. That’s really what I look for,” said Lee Johnson, a team mentor.

Students say completing together fosters a great team–building environment.

“It’s a little challenging especially when you see a much of men in one room and you’re the only female but all the guys just become your teammates and treat you like the rest of the people,” said Sadiyo Jassa, a West Fargo High School senior. “So you can thrive in it as long as you have the drive and passion for it.”

It’s an experience these students say wouldn’t have been possible without the help of their sponsors.

The robotics competition will be held next week over the course of several days in Grand Forks.

On March 21st our team boarded the bus for the 7 hour drive to Cedar Falls, Iowa to participate in the FIRST Iowa Regional. Thursday brought practice matches, where we were able to test and modify our robot and the 2 cube scale auto we had been working on. On Friday, qualification matches began and the Chairman’s team presented to their judges. Saturday brought more qualification matches, as well as playoff matches. After qualification matches finished, we were ranked #3 with a 10 win and 4 loss record! For the second time in our existence, we were alliance captains. We chose teams 2526 and 5690 as our alliance partners. We made it to the semifinals were we faced the #2 team. We won our first match, but in the second match our robot tipped on the scale during auto and we were red carded. Prior to the third match, team 2526 was not able to continue, so team 4646 subbed in for them. Unfortunately, we lost our match and did not advance any further. During the awards ceremony, we received the Quality Award again! Throughout the whole competition, our team continued to work as a team and we left everything out on that field. We look forward to recapping and setting up our returning members with the skills necessary to be successful next year.

At 6:30 am on March 1st our team, along with team 7048, boarded the bus to head to Grand Forks, ND for the inaugural Great Northern Regional. Thursday was a day for practice, and a day to figure out how to fix all the kinks in our robot. On Friday, 3 team members gave their Chairman’s presentation. Also on Friday, qualification matches started. By the end of qualification matches on Friday, the team was ranked 19 with 7 wins, 7 losses, and 1 tie. Our team was selected by team 2491 to be on alliance #5. Coincidentally, our other alliance partner was our sister team, team 7048! We won both games of the quarter finals and were on our way to the semi finals. In the semi finals we faced the #1 seeded alliance. Unfortunately we lost two matches and were out. At the end of the regional, however, our team was awarded the Quality Award! This was awarded to us for the reliability, high performance, elegance, efficiency, and maintainability of our robot design. Overall our robot, and team as a whole, performed well, despite having numerous issues with our intake. We are already bursting with ideas on how to make our robot more efficient. We look forward to attending the Iowa Regional in a couple of weeks!

The 2018 FIRST Robotics Competition game is Powerup. The objective of the game is to place power cubes on the scale and switches to gain control of them, as well as use power cubes to gain powerups.

There are two alliances during the game, each consisting of three robots. Alliances can earn points in numerous ways. An alliance will score points for every second they control the scale or their own switch. They can provide their alliance with power cubes to activate one of three different powerups (one is played during the end game and the other two can be played during any point in the game).

The game starts with a 20 second autonomous period where robots are pre-programmed to cross the baseline or place power cubes on the switch or scale. Following autonomous is a teleop period where human drivers drive their robots to earn as many points as possible. The game finishes with a 30 second end game period. During this period, robots drive on the platform or attach to the rung on the scale to gain extra points. This is also when the third power up can be used. The team with the most points at the end of the match wins!

On September 29th, we had the privilege to present to a local elementary school: Freedom Elementary. Our goal for this presentation was to show over two hundred fourth and fifth graders our robot from last season, as well as make them aware of the FIRST Lego League teams that their school has to offer. Through an interactive presentation, we were able to achieve our goal! The students loved watching our robot from last season pick up and shoot balls. We were also able to spark many interests, both in the students and in their teachers, about FIRST. The students had numerous questions about both our team and their own school’s FLL teams. This presentation helped fill the three FLL teams at Freedom Elementary! We will be returning to Freedom twice a week to help with those FLL teams, but more on that to come in the future.

This season our team welcomed several new members to replace our seniors that graduated last season. These new members, along with returning members, were able to learn many new skills. These skills ranged anywhere from learning how to use a power drill, to learning about the Chairman’s Award, to even learning about how to design an efficient robot. The skills that the students learned over the season will benefit them in their future endeavors, be it with FIRST, school, work, etc.

On March 1st, we headed over to Duluth, MN to partake in the largely competitive Lake Superior Regional. Despite the tough competition, our team finished in 47th place, we learned a lot about how our robot could improve for the next regional competition.

On March 21st, we drove the long bus ride to Cedar Falls, Iowa to participate in the second annual Iowa Regional. Our robot performed much better than it did in Duluth- we ranked 33rd, but were selected to be a part of alliance number four. Unfortunately, our alliance did not qualify past quarter finals, but we are grateful to have been chosen as part of the alliance.

The Chairman’s Award team was also able to take away many things from their presentations at both regionals. The Chairman’s award is the most prestigious award that can be won through FIRST. The purpose of this award is to explain how your team demonstrates the ideals of FIRST. Our team did not win Chairman’s, however we have numerous ideas to help the community and various FIRST teams in our area for the upcoming season.

After both of these experiences, we were able to take away new concepts that would help us in the future. For example, one concept we learned helped us face the challenges with our swerve drive train. This challenge inspired two of our members to design a custom tank drive for practice, as well as possibly for next season’s game. All departments of our team are excited for what next season has to bring.

The 2017 FIRST Robotics Competition is Steamworks. The objective of the game is to score fuel in the boiler and get gears to the airship so that your alliance can take flight.

There are two alliances during the game, each consisting of three robots. Alliances can earn points in numerous ways. Robots collect fuel from hoppers to score into the boilers by either shooting them into the high goal or the low goal. Gears can be put on the robot and brought over to the airship to get the rotors to turn. The more kilopascals of fuel scored into the boiler, the more points the alliance will earn. The more rotors the alliance has turning, the more points they will get. In the last 30 seconds each robot can climb a rope for extra points.

The game begins with a 15 second autonomous period. During this robots can cross the baseline, score fuel in the boiler, or deliver gears to the airship.

During the post-season, our team likes to take our robot and present it to different companies and to younger students. We take our robot to local elementary schools to talk about the FIRST program and to get the students excited about their future in STEM and FIRST. When we go to the school, we talk about FRC and our team’s robot this year. We also talk about FIRST Lego League, something that they can do in the near future. Since we 3D print a lot of our parts, we bring our 3D printer along. The students seem to really enjoy our robot and seem interested in FIRST when we leave.

It is a great opportunity to be able to teach younger students about opportunities that they have in the future. The kids seem very excited about our robot and to see something that students not too much older than them created and actually got to work! Our goal is to inspire as many students as possible to join FRC or anything STEM related and to show them cool things that they can do in high school. We love to involve the students and to show them that we can shoot the ball into a basketball hoop!